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Avg: 4.0 (143 ratings)
- Date Released: April 3, 2007
- Genre: Alternative/Punk
- Style: Alternative, Indie Rock
- Label: Fat Cat Records / IODA
Debut album from Scots mapped by what surrounds them.
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We Say...
Along with the similarly reach-for-the-sky-oriented Aerogramme, the Twilight Sad make rock music that’s as emotionally cloying as your garden-variety emo band. Lucky for us, then, that singer James Graham cloaks his lyrics in distance (the 14-year-old boy in “That Summer, at Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy”) and repetition (“Last Year's Rain Didn't Fall Quite So Hard”). It also doesn’t hurt that the group that backs him rarely lets him get a word in without shrouding him in a blast of guitar lacquer.
Said sonics are usually of the wall-of-sound variety with liberal doses of reverb poured into song structures wide-open enough to accommodate them. The fact that these tunes might be flimsy structurally shouldn’t put you off, though: it just allows the group more time to build to astonishing crescendos and hypnotize you with Craig Orzel’s ingeniously simple basslines. Much credit should go to co-producer Peter Katis (Interpol, the National), but these Scots seemingly crafted many of the sounds that appear on Fourteen Autumns, Fifteen Winters simply by listening to their My Bloody Valentine records and trying their best to figure out how it was done. Further trials are encouraged. -
They Say...
The Twilight Sad are one of the more conventional-sounding bands on Fat Cat -- that is, if cathartic, widescreen rock augmented by accordions and melodies rooted in Scottish folk can be called conventional. Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters expands on the searing, earnest sound of the band's self-titled EP; indeed, several of the Twilight Sad's best songs are also highlights here. "That Summer, at Home I Became the Invisible Boy" just might be the band's definitive song: guitars shimmer and build up into poetic squalls; James Graham's appealingly thick Scottish burr imbues lyrics like "Kids are on fire in the bedroom" with tenderness; Mark Devine's powerful but nuanced drumming cuts a swath through the melody but doesn't overpower it; and accordions add an unexpected, homespun warmth. "And She Would Darken the Melody" is another standout that underscores the similarity between the Twilight Sad's sound and the luminously anthemic side of the Walkmen or Interpol. However, the Twilight Sad have a more free-flowing approach than either of those bands, especially on the stunning "Talking with Fireworks/Here, It Never Snowed," which comes in like a lion with torrents of drums and guitars, and goes out like a lamb with a sparkling, hypnotic guitar melody. "Last Year's Rain Didn't Fall So Hard" is a gorgeous glimpse of a song that fades in and out, suggesting that it goes on forever, a feeling echoed by the instrumental title track, which closes the album with more of the wonderful atmosphere that makes the rest of Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters accessible, but ultimately far from conventional. The density of the Twilight Sad's sound evokes wide open spaces, yet the louder they are, the more intimate they sound -- these kinds of paradoxes make this album a powerful debut.
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You Say...
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| 01. |  |
Cold Days From The Birdhouse |
6:13 |  |
| 02. | |
That Summer At Home I Had Become The Invisible Boy |
4:48 | |
| 03. | |
Walking For Two Hours |
5:15 | |
| 04. | |
Last Years Rain Didn't Fall Quite So Hard |
3:19 | |
| 05. | |
Talking With Fireworks/Here, It Never Snowed |
5:14 | |
| 06. | |
Mapped By What Surrounded Them |
4:02 | |
| 07. | |
And She Would Darken The Memory Of Youth |
5:49 | |
| 08. | |
I Am Taking The Train Home |
5:51 | |
| 09. | |
Fourteen Autumns And Fifteen Winters |
4:06 | |
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Credits
- Alan Douches - Mastering // Paul Savage - Engineer // Peter Katis - Mixing // Jesse Baccus - Mastering // Andy MacFarlane - Group Member // Craig Orzel - Group Member // Mark Devine - Group Member // James Graham - Group Member
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